Rotary glass body coronary burner alignment apparatus



July 6, 1965 E. J. J. BENARD ETAL 3,193,369

ROTARY GLASS BODY CORONARY BURNER ALIGNMENT APPARATUS Filed July 31, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 EMIL 3'8 30mm @3755 5ND GERRY? 95 LE!!! INVENTOR.

AT MR NE 7 y 6, 1965 E. J. J. BENARD ETAL 3,193,369

ROTARY GLASS BODY CORONARY BURNER ALIGNMENT APPARATUS Filed July 31, 1961 s Sheets-Sheet '2 ma arm :romm 55mm m arm? 0: L550 w IN V EN TOR5 u y 1965 E. J. J. BENARD ETAL 3,193,369

ROTARY GLASS BODY CORONARY BURNER ALIGNMENT APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 31, '1961 CHIL .TAN J'OHAN BENARD mo ezmmm: LEEUW,

IN V EN TOR5 ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,193,369 RG'IARY GLASS BODY CORONARY BURNER ALIGNMENT APPARATUS Emil Jan .Iohan Renard and Qerrit de Leeuw, Leer-darn,

Netherlands, assignors to NY. Vereenigde Glasfahriehen (United) Giassworhs, Schiedam, Netherlands, a limited-liability company of the Netherlands Filed July 31, 1961, Ser. No. 128,087 Claims priority, application Netherlands, July 30, 1960, 254,376 2 Claims. (Cl. 65272) This invention relates to such a method for operating upon a rotative glass body which employs a holder for holding the ware in a flame corona in such a way that the axis of the said holder coincides substantially with the axis of the flame corona during a relative rotation between the glassware and annular flame.

It is essential that the flames of the coronary burner, for instance, for cutting off the lost top of a chalice or for burning in the brim thereof, act as uniformly as possible along the entire circumference of the glass object and for that purpose the spacing of every point of this circumference from the burner must be as constant as possible.

In the prior art use has been made for this purpose of a centering ring positioned above the coronary burner and comprising set fingers which are moved against the circumference of the glass object, the contact points of these coupled fingers being in each position on a circle having its center in the axis of the coronary burner. However, these known means are limited to use with rotary burners as the glassware is fixed by the set fingers during the operation and such rotary burners are complicated. Further, because the area where the rnoil is severed from the article or where the rim of the article is to be finished in the annular flame is at some distance from the centering ring and because the bearing surface at the foot of the article may not be parallel to the plane of the annular flame, irregularities may still occur in the finishing of the article. Further, even if the axis of the object at its bearing has been exactly adjusted so as to coincide with the axis of the coronary burner, nevertheless deviations in the spacing of the object within the annular flame can hardly be avoided on rotation of the t holder, because there is still no guarantee that the axis of the object will coincide over the entire length with the axis of rotation and moreover because the circumference of the chalice is not always purely circular.

It is a main object of the invention to provide a meth- 0d and devices for treating glass objects, particularly for accurately centering the objects in a coronary or annular burner, in order to meet the above mentioned difficulties. It is a further object of the invention to provide rather simple means by which an until now unobtainable correct spacing of the object within the annular burner can be achieved.

Still further objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 shows, partially in a vertical section and partially in side elevation, apparatus in accordance with one embodiment of this invention.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged plan View of a centering ring included in the apparatus shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 shows a vertical section of a modified embodiment of a holder.

FIGURE 4 shows partially in side elevation and partially in axial section a centering means which is supposed to be mounted above and coaxially with a holder as shown in FIGURE 3.

In FIGURE 1, the annular or coronary burner, indicated by dotted lines, is generally identified by the reference numeral 1, while the assembly of the object holder and supporting table is generally identified by the reference numeral 2. The glass object, such as, for example, a chalice, has the lower side of its foot inserted in the saucer shaped plate 3, which forms a part of the supporting table 4. A vacuum duct 5, 6, 7', 8 extends through the holder and the supporting table which forms a part thereof and opens at an aperture 9 of the table plate 3, thus providing for suspending the glass object, at its foot, by suction in the holder 2. The supporting table 4 is suspended by means of three coupling rods 14 which are positioned at the corners of an isosceles triangle, and one of which is visible in FIGURE 1. Each of these coupling rods is connected at its opposite ends, by means of universal joints, to the holder 13 and the table 4 respectively, as schematically indicated at the upper end of rod 14 by the crossed lines on two blocks on the 0pposite sides of this upper end. The supporting table 4 is thus capable of swinging horizontally under the holder 13. A coupling plate It) bearing against the foot plate 12 of the holder will follow this swinging movement as it is coupled by means of a universal join-t 11 to the table plate 3.

The holder 2 and the coronary burner 1 are relatively displaceable in the direction of their common axis, so that the area of the object to be treated, and which is suspended from plate 3, can be initially inserted in a centering ring indicated at 33. FIGURE 2 shows this ring after the cover, 15 (FIG. 1) has been removed. Situated in the centering ring 33 is the adjusting ring 16 which is turnable by means of the handle 17 to the angu lar extent permitted by engagement of the handle with the opposite ends of the slot 1d. Vertical shafts I9, 20

and 21 extend upwardly from ring 33 at the corners of an isosceles triangle and rockably carry respective levers having arms 22, 23 and 24 which support rollers 28, 29 and 3d engaging in radial slots 25, 26 and 27, respectively, of ring 16. The levers further have generally tangentially extending arms, for example, as at 31 and 32, carrying rollers 34, 35 and 36 which constitute adjusting fingers. By swinging the handle 17, the finger tips formed by the rollers 34, 35, 36, are brought into contact with the circumference of a glass object suspended from the holder 2, as above described. In order to facilitate adjustment or centering of the object, the adjusting ring 16 rides on ball bearings, as is to be seen in FIG. 1. The movement of the handle 17 is effected in opposition to a spring 56.

Since the rollers 34, 35, 36, which contact the object, are always exactly situated on a circle, the center of which is the axis of rotation of the holder 2, and coincides with the center of the burner I the object is thus brought to a position in which the circumference engaged by rollers 34, 35 and 36 practically coincides with a circle having its center in the axis of rotation of the holder 12. The bearing plate 4 follows this adjustment as it is capable of sliding together with the coupling plate 10 along the foot plate 12 of the holder 13. The cock 37 in the branch duct 38 of the vacuum conduit 8, 7 (FIG. 1) is then turned to its open position so that the vacuum contact in space 39 for drawing the coupling piece 19 against the holder plate 12, whereby the supporting table 4 is also retained in the adjusted position.

Handle 17 can now be released so that spring 56 acts thereon to retract the rollers 34, 35 and 36 from contact with the object. Then holder 2 is raised, and centering ring 33 can be moved laterally away from its operative position above burner 1. Finally, the centered area of the object is moved into the plane of burner 1 by relative axial displacement of the burner and holder 2. It

3 will be noted that ball and socket joints 40 and 41 which are air-tight are provided at the opposite ends of the vacuum conduit 6 so as to permit the displacement of the table 4 relative to the holder 13 during the described centering of the object.

In the embodiment according to FIGURE 3, the holder 42 supports a mushroom shaped table 45 having a vacuum aperture 46. The aperture 46 is communicated with a source of vacuum through a duct 47 which opens from a swingably mounted tube 62.

A branch duct 48 having a' cock 49 therein extends from the duct 47 to a space between the base of table 45 and an intermediate piece 44 which is slidably engaged by the table and is mounted on holder 42 by means of a' universal joint 43. When the object is being centered, the supporting table 45 slides to the desired position with respect to the holder 42. (The axis of the holder 42 coincides with the axis of the burner.) 'Then the table 45 is fixed to the holder 42 by means of the vacuum acting in space 50. This device of FIG. 3 is to be used with a centering ring of the kind described above with reference to FIGS. 1 and '2.

It is conceivable to replace the centering ring by a clutch 51 as diagrammatically indicated by dotted lines in FIGURE 4. The fingers 52 of this clutch 51 are located at the corners of a triangle and they are driven in order to grip the circumference of the upper part or moil of the object placed on the supporting table 45. The so calledlost top or moil, after having been cut off by the coronary burner (not shown), is removed by the clutch 51. The axis of the clutch spindle 53 is concentrically arranged with the axis of rotation of the holder 42 and the fingers 52 have the same function as the levers of the centering ring 33 in FIGURE 2. The spindle 53 is capable of up and down movement with respect to the sleeve 54, which surrounds the spindle, for opening and closing the clutch 51; The mechanism serving that purpose is not described. As has been indicated by a dotted line 55, the'clearance between the sleeve 54 turning along with the spindle 53 and the holder 60 can be decreased to such an extent that, on lowering the clutch towards the object and on closing the fingers 52, the object is centered with respect to the holder 42, and thereafter the object isfixed relative to the holder 42 by action of vacuum in the space 50 of the latter.

The illustrated embodiment is, however, by reason of the relatively large clearance 55, suitable for cases, for instance in processing uniform press glass, in which the objects can be placed by hand in a centered position on an adapted holder., In order to follow small ditferences,

v the sleeve 54 and the spindle 53 can move laterally to a small extent by reason of the mounting of the upper end of sleeve 54 on an elastic ring 57 which is supported by the ball ring 58 of a ball bearing 59 provided in the holder 60. The spindle 53 has a head 61 at its upper end which is resiliently supported on the sleeve 54. The clutch spindle 53 is constrained to rotate with the holder 42 so that actuation of this spindle from above is not necessary. I

It should also be observed that the device according to FIGS. 3 and 4 is intended particularly for automatically manufactured articles, e.g. articles made in press moulds, which can be. manufactured with small tolerances, whereas the device according to the FIGS. 1 and 2 is also suitable for manually manufactured objects.

What We claim is:

1. In a device for treating glass bodies of revolution; the combination of an-annular burner for heating a circumferentially extending region of a glass body of revolution during rotation of the latter with said circumferential region of the body located axially at a plane within said burner, a holder rotatable coaxially relative to said burner, said holder and burner being axially displaceabie relative to each other, a table for supporting a glass body to be treated, means mounting said table on said holder so as to be fixed axially with respect to the latter with the plane of said tablebeing parallel to said plane within the burner and with said table being adjustable laterally relative to said holder, means for securing a glass body of revolution to said table, centering means for the burner located in a plane spaced axially from, and parallel to said plane within said burner and engageable with a glass body secured to said table when the holder is axially disposed to axially located said circumferential region of the glass body at the plane of said centering means said centering means being operative to center said engaged circumferential region with respect to said burner and holder and to correspondingly laterally adjust said table with respect to said holder, and means operative to secure said table in its laterally adjusted position with respect to said holder, whereupon said holder can be axially displaced relative to the burner to locate the centered circumferential region of the glass body at said plane within said burner.

2. In a device for "treating glass bodies of revolution, the combination as in claim 1;

wherein said table has an aperture opening at a surface thereof engageable by a glass body to be treated, and said means for securing a glass body to said table includes means defining a vacuum duct extending through said holder and opening at said aperture of the table, and wherein said table and holder have confronting relatively slidable surfaces Which are recessed to define a space therebetween, and said means for securing the table relative to the holder includes means defining a branch duct extending from said vacuum duct and opening in said space, and valve means interposed in said branch duct.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,361,824 10/44 Dorman 65-269 2,571,066 10/51 Schreioer 65 -113 2,618,903 11/52 Kuebler 65270 2,704,418 3/55 Gerbaud 65-269 2,799,982 7/57 Dodge 65-270 X 3,036,405 5/62 Dwinell et a1. 65-272 FOREIGN PATENTS 829,216 3/38 France.

DONALL n. SYLVESTER, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A DEVICE FOR TREATING GLASS BODIES OF REVOLUTION; THE COMBINATION OF AN ANNULAR BURNER FOR HEATING A CIRCUMFERENTIALLY EXTENDING REGION OF A GLASS BODY OF REVOLUTION DURING ROTATIN OF THE LATTER WITH SAID CIRCUMFERENTIAL REGION OF THE BODY LOCATED AXIALLY AT A PLANE WITHIN SAID BURNER, A HOLDER ROTATABLE COAXIALLY RELATIVE TO SAID BURNER, SAID HOLDER AND BURNER BEING AXIALLY DISPLACEABLE RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER, A TABLE FOR SUPPORTING A GLASS BODY TO BE TREATED, MEANS MOUNTING SAID TABLE ON SAID HOLDER SO AS TO BE FIXED AXIALLY WITH RESPECT TO THE LATTER WITH THE PLANE OF SAID TABLE BEING PARALLEL TO SAID PLANE WITHIN THE BURNER AND WITH SAID TABLE BEING ADJUSTABLE LATERALLY RELATIVE TO SAID HOLDER, MEANS FOR SECURING A GLASS BODY OF REVOLUTION TO SAID TABLE, CENTERING MEANS FOR THE BURNER LOCATED IN A PLANE SPACED AXIALLY FROM , AND PARALLEL TO SAID PLANE WITHIN DAID BURNER AND ENGAGEABLE WITH A GLASS BODY SECURED TO SAID TABLE WHEN THE HOLDER IS ACIALLY DISPOSED TO AXIALLY LOCATED SAID CIRCUMFERENTIAL REGION OF THE GLASS BODY AT THE PLANE OF SAID CENTERING MEANS SAID CENTERING MEANS BEING OPERATIVE TO CENTER SAID ENGAGED CIRCUMFERENTIAL REGION WITH RESPECT TO SAID BURNER AND HOLDER AND TO CORRESPONDINGLY LATERALLY ADJUST SAID TABLE WITH REPSPECT TO SAID HOLDER, AND MEANS OPERATIVE TO SECURE SAID TABLE IN ITS LATERALLY ADJUSTED POSITION WITH RESPECT TO SAID HOLDER, WHEREUPON SAID HOLDER CAN BE ACIALLY DISPLACED RELATIVE TO THE BURNER TO LOCATE THE CENTERED CIRCUMFERENTIAL REGION OF THE GLASS BODY AT SAID PLANE WITHIN SAID BURNER. 